This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Non-load carrying or load-carrying structures for vehicles or automotive applications facilitate transportation of passengers and cargo from one location to another. Such components are typically made of metals, such as steel or aluminum. Metals provide robust components, including good ductility, strength and impact resistance. Impact resistance and strength are particularly important, as automotive load-carrying structures are often used for construction or industrial use. Such structures typically need to support the weight of other components, equipment, or items within the vehicle, such as cargo, storage items, and passengers carried within the vehicle, and further should exhibit an ability to withstand impact from dropping of heavy and/or sharp objects (e.g., as cargo may be loaded from various heights). While metals have performed well as load-carrying structures for automotive applications, they have a distinct disadvantage in being heavy and reducing gravimetric efficiency and thus fuel economy of a vehicle.
Light-weight reinforced composite materials have been considered as alternative load-carrying surfaces for vehicle applications. However, conventional composite materials have not exhibited the necessary robustness for long-term use in vehicles or other load-carrying applications, as they tend to have limited ductility (increased brittleness) and exhibit reduced impact resistance. Thus, improvements in designs of structures formed of composite materials, so as to provide necessary impact resistance and toughness for commercial and industrial applications, would be highly desirable to improve long-term durability of such structures for both load-bearing or non-load bearing applications, while reducing weight and improving fuel economy.